Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Leadership and Governance Section in the Policy Division is responsible for supporting an enabling environment for gender equality and women's empowerment in governance systems and processes related to legal frameworks, political participation and public sector planning and budgeting. In response to calls from gender equality advocates for increased accountability for implementation of gender equality, UN Women is implementing the Programme “Increasing Accountability in Financing for Gender Equality (F4GE)”. The programme supports strengthened accountability mechanisms in both national and donor processes in fifteen countries with a total budget of US$ 12.5 million mobilized from the EU, Spain, UN Women and other donors. It expands the application of mainstreaming gender in public finance management systems, planning, budgeting and aid management instruments. It also supports global and national advocacy efforts on increasingly financing for gender equality for women’s empowerment.
 
The Programme Associate is part the Governance and National Planning (GNP) team and is responsible for providing support to the F4GE programme management unit and the GNP global activities. The programme Associate is specifically responsible for (a) supporting budget and financial management activities that includes preparing financial and expenditure reports and finalizing budget revisions and re-phasing processes, (b) providing operations and administrative support to the programme and the GNP team including supporting recruitment processes for consultants, organizing meetings and workshops and providing overall logistical support to the F4GE programme unit and the GNP team. The Programme Associate will work under the guidance and supervision of the Programme Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

  • Budget management and finance
  • Operations support to the Programme Management Unit and GNP Team
  • Administrative Support to the Programme Management Unit and GNP Team
Budget Management and Finance:
  • Monitors all the programmes budgets for the FfGE programme.
  • Drafts project budgets & revisions, proposes routine changes to projects components to attain project objectives with guidance from the Programme Manager.
  • Liaises with the country offices and provides backstopping on budget on re-phasing budgets.
  • Drafts and submits to the Programme Manager, authorizations to field offices to undertake project-related activities, incur expenditures, monitors expenditures and advises offices and funding agencies on budget status, ensures funds allocation is not exceeded or additional funds are allocated when required.
  • Assists in preparing financial reports to donors
  • Tracks contributions and maintains internal expenditure control system to ensure vouchers are matched and completed
  • Liaises with UN Women finance and operations
Operations support to the Programme Management Unit and GNP Team
  • Under the guidance of the Programme Manager, initiates recruitment actions of consultants, prepares draft terms of reference, requests HR to undertake recruitment and follows up with HR. Provides support for the shortlisting of consultants for selection by the Programme Manager.
  • Assists in the preparation of subcontracts, reviews subcontract invoices and checks supporting documentation to ensure that services provided and claimed are in conformity with the terms of the contract/ reference.
  • Organizes meetings and workshops and provides overall logistical support to the Section/ Thematic Group
  • Prepares all actions related to travel, . Provides support to organizing trainings for the Programme Staff and for any other staff particularly working on EC projects. Provides the programme management team with guidance with regards to UN Women procedures and rules and regulations
  • Verifies accuracy of supporting documents for payments
Administrative Support to the Programme Management Unit and GNP Team
  • Organizes data and information, prepares and maintains records, documents and plans for monitoring of project/ programmes implementation.
  • Draft routine correspondence to all parties concerned.
  • Collects briefing materials and drafts briefing notes for missions and for discussions in respect of projects under the responsibility of the Programme Management Unit.
  • Verifies that all completed projects are closed in accordance with UN Women rules and that final reports are received.
  • Sets up and oversees reference system and filing.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:
  • Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
  • Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.
Core Competencies:
  • Ethics and Values Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity Organizational Awareness:
  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
Development and Innovation:
  • Take charge of self-development and take initiative
Work in teams:
  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Communicating and Information Sharing:
  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication
Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:
  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others
Conflict Management:
  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:
  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge
Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:
  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making
Functional Competencies:
  • Ability to work excellently in teams.
  • Ability to multi-task and prioritize in a fast-paced environment with a large volume of work.
  • Ability to perform a broad range of administrative activities aimed at effective and efficient functioning of the Programme Management Unit, including data/schedule management, maintenance of protocol, information flow.
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality and discretion.
  • Ability to write, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality.
  • Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective.
  • Ability to anticipate the needs of both clients and the Programme Management Unit and address these promptly.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Completion of high school (secondary education).
  • Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent certificate in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, Economics is desirable but not a requirement
Experience:
  • 6 years working in the UN and competency in using Atlas
  • Knowledge of UN Women’s rules and procedures is an asset but not required.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access), , Internet, and Outlook
  • Excellent organizational and time management skills and sound judgment
  • Ability to work efficiently under pressure and in a team environment

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English and any of the other UN languages – particularly French and Spanish is an added advantage but not required

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.